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MLBlogger Ken Gurnick tweets news of a preliminary agreement between the Dodgers and arbitration eligible outfielder Matt Kemp on a two-year deal worth $10.95 million. Kemp's deal locks him up for this year and next, but leaves him under team control and subject to arbitration before the 2012 season, unless the Dodgers and he work out a deal to buy out some of his free agent seasons. According to Dylan Hernandez, he'll make $4 million in 2010, an 857% raise over 2009 when he earned $467,000. His 2011 salary will be $6.95 million.

The Dodgers sixth-round draft pick in 2003, Kemp debuted with the club less than three years later in 2006 at age 21. As a 24 year-old last season he posted the best numbers of his young career, both at the plate and in center field winning both a gold glove and silver slugger award. His batting line of .297/.352/.490 hints at even better production as he enters his peak batting seasons.

Kemp's signing reduces the number of arbitration eligible players to 128. The Dodgers remaining arbitration eligible players (Jonathan Broxton, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Russell Martin, Hong-Chih Kuo and George Sherrill) have until today to file. Please visit the salary arbitration page for more information

Joe Tetreault is a member of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey.